Duke  University  Libraries 

The  Maryland  ma 
Conf  Pam  #740 


The  Maryland  Martyrs. 

— m»m 

They  bore  them  to  a  gloomy  cell, 

And  barred  them  from  the  light, 
Because  they  boldly  dared  to  tell 

The  people  what  was  right. 
They  dared  their  feeble  voice  to  raise, 

Against  oppression's  power, 
To  show,  by  truth's  unerring  rays, 

The  dangers  of  the  hour. 

They  called  them  by  a  traitorous  name. 

And  with  a  fiendish  hate 
Heaped  on  their  heads  a  load  of  shame, 

Such  as  on  felon's  wait. 
Thoy  dragged  them  from  their  peaceful  hearths 

Upon  a  despots  word. 
Although  the  vilest  man  on  earth 

Should  by  the  law  be  heard. 

Thus  they  the  men  of  lofty  soul, 

Wieldiiig  a  magic  pen, 
Whose  word  the  people  would  control, 

And  sway  the  minds  of  men, 
Is  by  the  tyrant  Lincoln's  nod. 

Of  liberty  bereft, 
Struck  by  a  base  usurper's  rod — 

In  dark  confinement  left. 

They  shut  them  up,  but  could  not  chain 

Their  free  and  fearless  soul  ; 
The  sacred  chamber  of  their  brain 

Was  free  from  their  control. 
They  could  not  bind  the  eagle  thought 

That  from  their  mind  took  flight, 
Eflface  the  lessons  they  had  taught, 

Nor  bar  the  truth  from  light. 

For  tho'  within  a  dungeon  damp, 

They  shut  them  from  the  day, 
They  could  not  quench  truth's  airy  lamp 

That  burns  with  fadeless  ray. 
But  hark  I  upon  the  .sea  of  life. 

What  sound  comes  from  afar? 
It  is  the  harbinger  of  strife, 

Of  red  ensanguined  war. 

It  is  the  People's  voice  that  breaks 

Like  wild  waves  on  the  ear ; 
It  is  the  People's  tramp  that  shakes 

The  earth  both  far  and  near. 
Lift  up  thy  head,  0  martyrs  brave, 

Thy  chains  will  broken  be ; 
The  People  come  their  friends  to  save — 

Look  up,  thou  wilt  be  free ! 


\1 .'  -^1\ 


Hollinger  Corp. 
pH8.5 


